Gardens

Mentioned in Scripture, of Eden (Gen 2:8, 9); Ahab’s garden of herbs (1 Kgs 21:2); the royal garden (2 Kgs 21:18); the royal garden at Susa (Esth 1:5); the garden of Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:41); of Gethsemane (John 18:1).

The “king’s garden” mentioned 2 Kgs 25:4, Neh 3:15, was near the Pool of Siloam.

Gardens were surrounded by hedges of thorns (Isa 5:5) or by walls of stone (Prov 24:31). “Watch-towers” or “lodges” were also built in them (Isa 1:8; Mark 12:1), in which their keepers sat. On account of their retirement they were frequently used as places for secret prayer and communion with God (Gen 24:63; Matt 26:30-36; John 1:48; 18:1, 2). The dead were sometimes buried in gardens (Gen 23:19, 20; 2 Kgs 21:18, 26; 1 Sam 25:1; Mark 15:46; John 19:41).